The late US spring sowing season has not removed the "favourable" outlook for fertilizer applications, but may alter the mix of nutrients that growers use, CF Industries said, as it revealed a return to the black further than analysts expected.

CF shares soared 8.9% to $140.78 in morning deals in New York.

Steve Wilson, the CF Industries chairman and chief executive, said the Illinois-based group was "positioned for a very good spring" despite the rain delays to US sowings of corn, of which a historically-low level 13% of the crop was planted as of Sunday.

Rival fertilizer group Agrium said on Wednesday that the hold-ups could prompt a reduction in use of nitrogen products as some growers switch to soybeans, which are less nutrient intensive and can be later sown.

However, CF foresaw the influence of the delays in terms of the choice of nitrogen fertilizers, with growers "reducing the ammonia portion of the mix" in favour of urea-based products.

While viewed by many farmers as being more difficult to handle, urea fertilizers have a higher nitrogen content than ammonia products, enabling a more immediate nutrient hit desirable when preparatory fieldwork has been prohibited.

'Robust demand' 

"North American farmers are recognizing the benefits of UAN [urea ammonium nitrate], which increases application flexibility and facilitates earlier planting," said CF.

"The company expects robust UAN demand in the second quarter, which will benefit CF Industries given its strong market position for this product."

In the January-to-March period, the group sold, at 1.45m tonnes, more than three times as much UAN as ammonia, with a further 600,000 tonnes of urea on top.

Indeed, the quarter witnessed the start-up of CF's Woodward UAN plant in Oklahoma, which helped drive the group's production to a record 1.6m tonnes.

Back in the black 

The rise in fertilizer volumes, which was also fuelled by trade bought with the takeover of rival Terra Industries, coupled with higher nutrient prices helped CF more than double first quarter revenues to a record $1.17bn.

The group bounced back from a $4.4m after-tax loss a year before to earnings of $282.0m.

While the recovery was helped by one-off effects - with the loss a year ago reflecting a $123m break-fee to wrestle Terra from a deal with Norway's Yara International - the rebound nonetheless beat investors' expectations.

CF's earnings per share of $3.91 compared with a Wall Street forecast of $3.17, although its revenues fell marginally short of the $1.22bn that analysts had estimated.

"Industry conditions presented an opportunity for us to showcase CF Industries' earnings power," Mr Wilson said.